Question: Mohamed Islam:

What does the word Ijtihad mean?

It comes from the Arabic Root Verb : Jahada : meaning exerting effort. In general when effort is applied to a text, it is Ijtihad. When applied in the Islamic context it usually means the attempt of Muslim scholars to interpret the Sacred Texts, The Quran and Sunnah.

When did the necessity for Ijtihad arise?

During the life of the Prophet, he got the divine message from God, and his life itself is an attempt to concretely apply what the text means. It is of course in a metaphorical sense. There was not much gap between the message and the meaning. When he died the question as to the meaning of texts arose. Each human being see things differently, so differences get resolved through discourse. Al-Iftilah or divergence of opinion occurs among scholars. If there was only one interpretation, there would result a dictatorship, Dogmatism, monism. So divergence is a mercy from God. It gives room for human beings to interpret the Quran and adapt, and apply to different situations, various problems, and questions as they come up.

The richest field for ijtihad is Tafsir (Formal Interpretation of the Quran). When did formal interpretation of the Quran first occur?

It occurred right away. When people started reading the verses, this itself was interpretation by that individual. Reading is interpretation. At the time of Ali there were already different interpretations regarding the meanings and sources of texts. E.g. : Khrajites, Followers of Ali, Umayyads. Controversy as to the meaning of suras led to political differences. This led to a great deal of political conflicts.

In divergence of opinion there is a mercy in Islam. This is an incentive for divergence and discourse. Who is best qualified to be a Mujtahid.

The sacred Texts are complex. It requires a certain amount of knowledge of the Arabic language, life of the Prophet, and knowledge of previous interpretations. So to be a true Mujtahid, you have to have previous knowledge. Because of the difficulty involved some people said the door of Ijtihad it closed. But in reality it is occurring all the time all over the Muslim world.

Requirements are:

1. Knowledgeable in the field of religion,
2. Knowledge of Arabic Language
3. Familiarity with previous interpretations.
4. Knowledge of life of the Prophet

You mentioned the door of Ijtihad was closed. This was during the Mogul invasion. Rulers feared that under pressure of occupation by non-Muslim forces that Ijtihad may lead to misinterpretations. Would you agree that this was the rationale?

Yes, usually if a nation is defending itself during occupation, it does not have much tolerance for multiplicity of opinion. Only with security can one tolerate differences. If the self is threatened it clutches to certainties, wants to keep them and builds on them. In times of crises multiplicity of opinion is not encouraged and Ijtihad is endangered.

In the 14 centuries of interpretations do you think there are radical shifts in meanings, leading to schisms, or widely differing schools of thought? Did this occur in Islam?

This has not happened in Islam. There has always been an establishment that has defended and defined the norm. These are quite clear, simple and straight forward:

1. Belief in God 
2. Belief in hereafter
3. Certain moral norms
4. Certain religious norms

If you subscribe to these you are a Muslim. There may be some problem developing. There are people that are atheists, and engage in interpretation of the Quran. We have to be wary of them. These interpretations create problems for us.

How would an atheist try to interpret the Quran if he starts with disbelief?

He tries to find scientific laws and historical statements. He is unaware of the transcendental content of the Quran. Some of them believe they are Muslims. They are materialists and historicists. They are not interpreters like Muslims, even though they claim so. They do not accept it as sacred texts and do not believe in its transcendental nature.

How would you be able to safeguard non-Arabic speaking Muslims from these kinds of interpretations?

Make sure the person who reads or interprets the Quran considers it a sacred document. And not simply a social or anthropological document. It may have social and anthropological elements in it but it does have a certain transcendental core to it.

The second source is the Sunnah . How would you explain the word ‘science’ in ‘Science of Hadith’ (sayings of the Prophet)?

I am always uncomfortable with the word ilm, because it is translated as science or physical sciences. I usually use the word Fiqh of Hadith. It brings in the idea of Ijtihad, rather than complete objectivity. This is my opinion, subjective opinion, my Ijtihad, check it out for yourself. See what you think. See if it corresponds to reality or not. What is your opinion. We invite people to participate. We ask people to use their human minds. Objectivity silences their conscience. Silences their morality. Asks them to be tabula raza.

Ijtihad is subjective, it starts with your belief and conscience. Science is objective, it starts with a tabula raza. You start with no basic values.

Would you say the totality of subjectivity will lead to objectivity?

We will not agree on every thing. We give opinions and test it to see if it explains reality or not. ( just like in physical sciences : You present your hypothesis, then you test it, and see if it explains reality or not.)

When you perform Ijtihad you get rewarded even if you err. If you err you get one reward. If you are right you get two rewards.

What about Ijtihad in Hadith?

This has been done:

1. Isnad: the chain or lineage is examined. If a weak link is found you reject the hadith.

2. Content
3. Classification process
4. Abstraction: check correspondence with Quran.

These are all Ijtihad.

So it seems there is no such thing as dogma. It is a subject open to discussion, by all that are qualified?

Yes, this brings us to the modern Mujtahid. They are trained in modern western sciences, and also trained in Islam. They are presenting new interpretations taking into account traditional interpretations, but also open to modern ways of reading texts, modern social sciences, and modern scientific concepts, E.g. Fahm Waidi, Tarq Bishri.

A Mujtahid exerts effort to understand and explain sacred texts. This is encouraged by Islam. Islam says that Ijtihad is always rewarded. If an error is made there is one reward. If there is no error the reward is twice.

We have to take these sacred text in our heart. We absorb the text then we have to give our interpretation subjectively. By consensus we get objectivity.

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